Episode 1
Part Three
"What in Planet's name is that?" Jiao-long asked his supervisor quietly.
"A mem unit some Drone dragged up from who knows where," answered Kanzan. "I've not seen one so crude, at least for twenty years or so. But it checks out...we'll connect it to a cruncher and keep an eye on it."
"Are you sure?"
"Listen, let's just do this," said Kanzan, flicking his eyes at the dull glass lens mounted in one corner of the room. That eyeflick was the universal Hive sign for They might be watching. "Every unit activated is that much more power dedicated to Chairman's mission."
"What mission? Everyone here is so jumpy."
"I don't know, or question," said Kanzan, directing a robot arm with a small controller. "I only know that Chairman Yang flew into a rage when he found out that Zakharov had discovered the Alien Temple. Somehow, though, Zak's private transmissions on the temple have been intercepted, and bought and sold among the faction leaders."
"And because of that Chairman Yang wants to analyze the air and the ground?" Jiao-long sounded skeptical.
"The energy currents in the ground. He's obsessed with it...you know how he puts those special mirrors up everywhere. Inscriptions in the temple seem to say that there are energy currents in Planet. And since that temple was discovered..." Kanzan motioned to the ceiling, beyond which roiled the layer of dark, angry clouds that had grown thicker every day.
A door hissed open and a Watcher walked by, his white uniform accentuated with blazing touches of red around the eyes and hands. Kanzan and Jiao-long stopped talking and began checking readouts efficiently. The Watcher glanced at them coolly, circled the room and left. The two men remained silent for a minute or two after.
"Let's do this," said Kanzan, finally.
"A circuit panel from the Unity," said Jiao-long. "These are strange times."
"I don't question," Kanzan repeated. "Activating system. All circuits in parallel. Going online..."
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